THE REFEREEING IN BASKETBALL- TRENDS AND OPTIMIZATION STRATEGIES OF THE TRAINING AND PERFORMANCE OF REFEREES IN A DIVISION

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1 THE MINISTRY OF NATIONAL EDUCATION THE NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF PHYSICAL EDUCATION AND SPORTS THE REFEREEING IN BASKETBALL- TRENDS AND OPTIMIZATION STRATEGIES OF THE TRAINING AND PERFORMANCE OF REFEREES IN A DIVISION DOCTORAL THESIS ABSTRACT Scientific Coordinator, Prof. Univ. Dr. NEGULESCU C. IOAN PhD Student MARTINESCU FABIANA BUCHAREST

2 INTRODUCTION In basketball, as in all sports, referees are the integrity of the game. The basketball referee is the person who judges all phases of the game, taking decisions in fractions of a second. To do this he needs an interdisciplinary training, remembering, however, that most times he is a selftaught, learning and taking the brain from professionals in the field. This thesis aims to make important contributions to the current state of knowledge in the field, completing significantly the issue related to referees and refereeing in the field of basketball. In order to improve training of basketball referees, especially physical and psychomotor as well as of future generations, the level they are at in a particular moment must be known, and according to this we can design a training program. Also, the working method should be directed, to increase the training to achieve the desired objectives. Moreover, it is intended to cover gaps in the literature regarding the training and preparation and performance improvement of basketball referees. If this experimental study will have positive results, it could become a base from which they could conceive other training programs, according to the characteristics and needs of each referee in part. The desire to make this thesis has gone from the fact that in our country there is no emphasis on the basketball referees training. 2

3 Having the opportunity to attend training courses of international referees, we concluded that they could be adapted and developed also for the Romanian referees. This study is conducted on the first sample of the country's referees, division "A" referees, male and female, because at this level all types of training are required. PART I CRISTICAL KNOWLEDGE ON THE CONTENTS OF RESEARCH BIBLIOGRAPHICAL BACKGROUND Using both local network for research and the international one, the first part of the scientific approach covered the literature in the field to cover the basketball game concepts, evolution and regulation, training and communication of referees, in terms of a large number of scientists and researchers in the field. The first chapter serves to highlight the specific elements of the scientific approach. The other chapters in this first part outline the theoretical point of view in which the game of basketball is at this moment. In order to identify the specific elements, a number of studies that outline new perspectives and approaches in the field were analyzed. There was noticed a trend of specialists to emphasize the importance of training the players, teams, centralize the data coming from the players themselves, and only a few records take us where we actually have the desire to investigate, namely officiating in basketball. After studying the specialty literature it was found that there are very few materials that can guide the referees on 3

4 general physical training, and also the specific psychomotor training. The specialized literature abounds with texts, books and research for training young athletes, coaches, physical trainers, psychologists of senior teams, but there cannot be found themes similar to our objectives, namely the desire to know more from the specialist s point of view, of the basketball referee. This paper aims to start from the premise that we are preparing to express namely, that there is a correlation between the degree of training of basketball referees and their results during games, between their actual training and the performance that we can notice. PART II PRELIMINARY RESEARCH NECESSARY TO DETERMINE THE CONTENT OF THE MOVEMENT AND THE BEHAVIOURAL- DECISIONAL CHARACTERISTICS SPECIFIC TO BASKETBALL REFEREES Part Two continues the logic of the thesis, documenting the analysis of defining elements of the concepts of basketball referee and officiating. We wanted to create a coherent notion of referees training for the game and competition. We can say that the work of a referee to become the best is similar to the work of a top player. He also should have an important dose of talent, this talent meaning to have "the sense of the game", which is indispensable for a referee who reaches the highest levels. 4

5 The game of basketball is the fastest evolving, according to specialists in the field; it is governed by rules that through continuous improvement and advancement, have made the basketball game with only 13 very simple articles to take place based on a very comprehensive regulation, comprising 50 articles. All these changes have not affected the spirit and essence of the game with nothing; rather they are designed to increase the dynamism of the game, its momentousness and beauty. It should be noted that over the years, these changes in the regulation increased the importance and accountability that referees have during the games. We must not forget that the referee is the judge on the ground that has the power and responsibility to make decisions. As a result of all these changes (and those that follow) we can state the following: The game of basketball is the sports game with the fastest evolution, is governed by rules that improve continually; Although it is a game with many restrictive rules, basketball evolved into a dynamism unrivaled by other sports; All regulations made by the articles of the current Regulations are based on the knowledge of current techniques and tactics of the game of basketball; The continuous adaptation of officiating to the demands of the game can also be noticed from the major change occurred in the number of referees on the court (from 2 to 3 referees). 5

6 Preliminary investigation data, which we are interested in directly, from this second part, can be found in mathematical and graphical form in Section 8.2, subchapter Also, the tests that are required at this moment, without a centralized base and well-established training, are not relevant and can not be correlated with anthropometric parameters or physiological parameters of the subjects. Following these results, we tried to also see the view of referees on these issues. Thus, we applied a questionnaire to all people that we will subject to other testing and training on the program developed by us. After analyzing the responses to the questionnaire the following conclusions were depicted: basketball is considered to be quite known at present in Romania; the level of officiating, after observing clearly the graphics, is high compared to the games in the national championships which already leads us to think of the level at which referees are prepared at the moment; the main component of training in referring at this level is the physical training, closely followed by the psychological one and then the theoretical one follows; are allocated a relatively small percentage in the training lesson is given to the specific physical training of basketball referees, the answers being supported by current tests that are not currently considered the best; 6

7 as new testing we can notice the referees desire and willingness for physical testing only of 71% and 38% for specific psychological testing for this work; The main contribution of this part is that it checks the working instruments of the third party and there can already be seen some tests that we will use in the actual research. The actual results of the preliminary testing can also be noticed, which already give us the possibility to express actual our assumptions for the work. PART III PERSONAL EXPERIMENTAL EXAMINATIONS OF SOME POSSIBILITIES TO IMPROVE THE TRAINING AND PERFORMANCE OF DIVISION A BASKETBALL REFEREES The third part of our doctoral thesis contains five chapters and reflects the personal contribution on improving training and performance of division A basketball referees. The central purpose of this part is to find authentic structures that have not been explored until now. These structures have been displayed as a teaching program encompassing framework objectives, contents and operational structures that were not part of any experimental study to this date. Hypotheses Inductive hypothesis: The evolution of officiating rules in the game of basketball increased the impressiveness and dynamism of the game of basketball. 7

8 Deductive hypotheses: Optimizing the referees training can be achieved by introducing new tests, try-outs and scales that can help increase the value of Romanian referees development in national and international competitions. Achieving quality standards will help increase the value of Romanian referees, as an effect of the "school of referees" in our country, by standardizing their training based on specific training curricula. For the formulated assumptions, following the data collected during the experiment, their record and analysis, we can conclude the following: For the first hypothesis, which is inductive, we can consider that, by observing the last changes of the Regulation and its interpretations, their applicability to games from division "A" championship in our country, it contributes to the impressiveness and dynamics growth of the game. After the data recorded from the final testing, we can say that the second deductive hypothesis, is confirmed, and the new programs proposed for improving the division A referees training can be perceived as effective. The level of physical and psychomotor possibilities of those involved in this experimental study has grown from initial testing to the final one, as it can be clearly seen in the conclusions expressed above. Noticing the physical and psychomotor improvements after applying the training programs, we have also attempted to quantify the performance of referees with reflection in the currently existing marks. 8

9 The third deductive hypothesis, can be considered as met, following the issues mentioned above and that following this approach we can create a "school of referring" to have their own curricula, their goals and tests to reveal clearly the training level of referees and maybe also in the future and a more objective measurement of performance during the games. Moreover, following the performance from the national and international championships, there are participations of Romanian referees in all age groups of the European Championships U16, women, men, U18 women and men, U20 women, men, with great results, and also finals and semifinals officiated by them. Moreover, these performances from the regular season propelled two Romanian referees to the European Championships for senior men and women, being neutral participation, since our country did not have participating teams. Conclusions This research aims to promote new strategies to drive the Romanian basketball with direct involvement on the organizational, training and evaluation of referees. At the same time we wanted to optimize the training process of the referees, without which we would not have the proper results. The introduction of new tests and try-outs in the referees training programs to improve motor and psychomotor abilities mostly used. Analyzing the current training methods of the referees, we can develop new ideas that can respond effectively to the contemporary requirements of basketball. The importance of this thesis was given by the fact that the referee is a direct factor acting on the 9

10 sporting demonstrations, and without whose contribution the sports competition can not be conducted under proper conditions. Through this thesis we can not do better referees, but we can help train them to this direction and try improving the referring. 10